Revised Bye-Laws related to Research Programme for the award of Ph.D. Degree-

(Effective from 1st September, 2011)

14(HE)

C.1.(1) A candidate who has obtained a Master’s degree
in the subject or related field with at least 55% marks in aggregate or has
qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the University Grants
commission may apply for Admission for the Ph.D. degree at any time during the
academic year for pursuing his/her research work under the guidance of a
supervisor approved by the Vidyapith.Every applicant is expected to
attach Master’s degree marks sheet along with application. Every candidate will
appear in the Research Entrance Test (RET) which may also be conducted online.
Qualifying RET is a mandatory requirement for enrollment, and until that stage
the admission shall be treated as provisional.

Note: A candidate who has
a minimum 5 years work experience (Teaching/Industrial/Research) may be given
relaxation of 5% by the Vice-Chancellor for registration for Ph.D. programme.

C.1.
(2) The following persons be
considered eligible to act as research supervisors of the Vidyapith:

(a) Professors/Associate Professors of the Vidyapith in the subject of their specialization.

(b) All
teachers in the Vidyapith possessing a Doctoral degree with at least five years’
experience of post-doctoral research work or at least five years post-graduate
teaching /industrial work experience.

C.1.(3) A candidate may work under the guidance of a
recognized research supervisor not belonging to the Vidyapith. A distinguished
person normally in active association with the Vidyapith, who is well-versed
with the educational ideology and ethos of the Vidyapith, and meets at least
three of the following conditions:

1.Is a Professor in an
institute/university of repute;

2.Has
a minimum of 15 years of experience of teaching/industry/research;

3.Has
a minimum of 10 publications in refereed journals of repute; and

4.Has
supervised at least five Ph.D. thesis;

may be recommended by a Research Board member to
act as an external research supervisor for a period of five years.

The Research Board may consider granting an
extension for a further term of five years. External Supervisor who has
successfully completed two terms of five years tenure may be granted such a
status permanently by the Research Board. However, under exceptional
circumstances the Research Board may decide to withdraw such a status.

C.1.(4) All external supervisors shall be treated as
Adjunct Faculty of the Vidyapith. It is expected that all external supervisors
shall show their affiliation as 'Banasthali Vidyapith' in the theses supervised
by them and also in all publications arising out of their supervision of
doctoral research work.

C.1.(5) A
candidate may work under joint supervision of two (approved) supervisors. The
supervisors are not necessarily required to belong to the same faculty/subject.

C.1.(6) No
persons will be allowed to guide his/her close relations. The term ‘close
relation’ includes wife, husband, son, daughter, grand-son, grand-daughter,
brother, sister, nephew, niece, grand-niece, grand-nephew, uncle, aunt, first
cousin, son in law, daughter in law, nephew, niece, grand-niece and grand-nephew
of the supervisor’s wife.

C.1.(7) A
candidate shall be treated as duly enrolled for the Ph.D. programme after it is
verified that he meets the eligibility criteria, has qualified RET, and has
submitted migration certificate of the University from which he/she took the
Master’s degree. Candidates who have already been enrolled once in the Vidyapith
shall be issued the same enrollment number automatically on the submission of
the migration certificate

C.1.(8) After enrolment a
research scholar will be required to submit a Synopsis ordinarily not exceeding
10 A4 size pages (with 12 font size and 1.5 line spacing), but under no
circumstances exceeding 20 pages. Synopsis of the proposed research work needs
to be submitted preferably within 6 months and not later than 12 months.
Generally, the synopsis should include national and international status related
to the proposed work, clear objectives of the research work, methodology and
plan of the work along with research output and other deliverables, if any. The
synopsis should also include a list of relevant references.

C.1.(9) All
submitted synopses would be properly evaluated by Research Advisory Committee (RAC),
consisting of HOD, supervisor and two more experts, one each nominated by HOD
and the Supervisor. The RAC shall be chaired by the Supervisor. HOD/Supervisor
may also recommend to the Vice-Chancellor appointment of external expert(s) in
case desired expertise is not available within the department. The candidate may
also be required to give a presentation of his/ her synopsis before RAC members,
which shall be open to all. Based on evaluation of synopses by RAC and its
presentation, RAC will submit their recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor. The
RAC may also recommend course work required to be undertaken by the Ph.D.
candidate.

C.1(10) The
synopsis submitted by the candidate, after favorable recommendations of the RAC,
shall be referred to two/three external experts nominated by the
Vice-Chancellor. The research supervisor shall suggest a panel of 5 to 8
examiners. The Vice-Chancellor may also appoint experts outside the panel
submitted by the Supervisor.

C.1.(11) Recommendations of RAC as well as the opinion of the external expert on the
Synopsis shall be placed before the Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor, after
satisfying herself/himself that the subject is one which is considered suitable
for research to be pursued and that the candidate possesses the requisite
qualifications, will pass necessary orders for the registration of the candidate
concerned as Ph.D. scholar. The orders of the Vice-Chancellor will be reported
to the Research Board.

C.1.(12)The
RAC duly constituted for every research scholar should submit a progress report
once every year.

C.1.(13) A
candidate may initiate his/her research work after admission, however, his/her
registration shall be processed only after his/her synopsis has been duly
approved and the Vice-Chancellor has passed the order for his/her registration.
The date of commencement of research work of an admitted student shall be the
date of submission of his/her application.

C.1(4)
Educational fee and all other fees, as may be prescribed from time to time shall
be paid in the beginning of the academic session in the month of July and at
stipulated time, respectively.In case one fails to deposit the dues
within 6 months of the due date, his/ her admission shall automatically stand
cancelled.The fee will be charged from the date of admission to the
Vidyapith, and it shall be paid till the candidate submits his/her thesis to the
Vidyapith. The candidate will be required to clear all due by the time of
Synopsis and thesis submission, failing which synopsis/thesis will not be
processed further until all dues are cleared by the candidate.

C.1.(15) A
candidate ordinarily shall not be permitted to change the scheme of his/her
subject during the courses of his/her study. If, however, an occasion arises due
to technical difficulties, the Vice-Chancellor may on the recommendation of the
supervisor and Head of Department concerned permit the modification of the
subject.

C.1.(16) Every candidate shall pursue a course of research as a student of the Vidyapith
for not less than two years from the date of application. If a candidate is
unable to submit his/her thesis at the end of five years, he or she shall seek
the permission of the Vice-Chancellor for the extension of time, as may be
necessary, subject to a maximum of three years. Registration of the candidate
will be automatically cancelled if he/she has not submitted the thesis and has
not applied for extension.

C.1.(17) If a
candidate fails to submit her/ his thesis after availing him/herself of the maximum
possible extension in the time, he/she may be allowed fresh registration on the
same topic on the special recommendation of the supervisor concerned on the
payment of usual fee, provided an application for fresh registration is made
within three months from the date on which fresh registration is granted,
failing which the registration will finally stand cancelled.

C.1.(18) Normally no candidate registered for the Ph.D. degree shall be allowed to take
up any other examination. However, in exceptional cases in the interest of
research, the Vice-Chancellor may grant such permission on the recommendation of
the supervisor and Head of Department concerned.

C.1.(19) A candidate will be expected to publish a
minimum of two research papers in refereed journal of repute. No candidate will
submit the Ph.D. thesis unless the RAC has notified the Vidyapith that the
thesis is ready for submission. Along with the RAC report, copies of two
research publications published, or accepted for publication, in refereed
journals of repute are required to be attached.

C.1.(20) A candidate may incorporate in his/her thesis
contents of any of his/her own published papers based on work done by
him/herself during the course of Ph.D., provided that they have not been already
used for obtaining a degree of the Vidyapith or of any other University and
he/she shall state this in unambiguous terms
in the relevant parts of the thesis.

C.1.(21) (a)When the supervisor notifies to the Vidyapith
that the thesis is ready for submission, the candidate will ordinarily submit
his/her thesis within six months of this notification by the supervisor.

C.1.(22)'No
dues' certificate duly signed by the Head of the Department concerned, Librarian
of the Vidyapith, Accounts Section and the Hostel Warden concerned, shall be
required to be submitted along with the thesis.

C.1.(23)
After the thesis is complete, the candidate shall supply six printed or
type-written copies of the thesis, together with the prescribed supplication
fee. The language used in the thesis shall be English or Hindi unless otherwise
specifically permitted by the Vice-Chancellor. The thesis shall comply with the
following conditions:

(i) It
must be a piece of research work characterized either by the discovery of new
facts or by a fresh approach towards interpretation of facts or theories. In
either case, it should prove the candidate’s capacity for the critical
examination, sound judgment and clarity of expression. The candidate shall
indicate how far the thesis embodies the result of his/her investigations and in
what respect it appears to his/ her to advance the study of the subject.

(ii) A critical edition or translation of work, approved specially for the
purpose by the Research Board at the time of registration, when accompanied by
an adequate introduction and commentary of the scholarly nature, may also be
considered for the award of a Ph.D. degree provided that the other requirements
are fulfilled.

(iii) A certificate shall be furnished by the supervisor indicating how far the
work is the original work of the candidate.

C.1.(24) The
thesis when received shall be referred for the evaluation to the supervisor and
three external examiners. This panel will have eight names giving details
regarding designation, postal address, telephone numbers and field of
specializations out of which at least five must be at Professor's rank. The
Vice-Chancellor shall appoint examiners out of this panel. However, the
Vice-Chancellor may also appoint examiners from outside the panel suggested by
the supervisor.

C.1.(25) (a)
The examiners shall be requested to send their reports on the thesis normally
within three months. If all the examiners recommend that the thesis is
suitable for the award of Ph.D. degree, a viva-voce examination (to be conducted
by two examiners including the supervisor) shall be held in all the cases.

(b)
If the original examiner(s) are not available for the viva-voce, another
person from within the country may be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.

(c)
The examiners shall send their reports independently to the Vice-Chancellor by
name marked 'Confidential'.

(d) If in the first instance, all the examiners evaluating the thesis as well
as those conducting the viva-voce examination recommend the award of the degree
to the candidate, the degree shall be awarded.

(e)
If the majority of the referees recommend
rejection of the thesis, the thesis shall be rejected.

(f) In case of divergence of opinion among the three referees, the report of
each referee will be sent to another two, with a view to obtaining agreement
among them. If even exchange of reports, the case is not decidable under clauses
(d) and (e), the following procedure shall be followed:

If
two examiners have accepted the thesis while the third has asked for its
revision, the Vice-Chancellor, on the recommendation of the supervisor, shall
either allow the candidate to revise the thesis or appoint a fourth examiner. If
a fourth examiner is appointed, his opinion shall be final. If two examiners
have accepted the thesis and the third has rejected it, the thesis shall be sent
for evaluation to the fourth examiner and his/her opinion shall be final. If one
of the three examiners has accepted the thesis, another has rejected it, while
the third has asked for its revision, the thesis shall be rejected. When the
thesis is rejected under such circumstances, the candidate can get
himself/herself registered afresh on the same subject. If the candidate fails to
satisfy the viva-voce examiners or if there be a difference between the
viva-voce examiners, the candidate may be allowed, on the payment of prescribed
fee, to appear at a second viva-voce examination to be held not later than one
year from the date of first viva-voce. If at the second viva-voce the candidate
fails to satisfy the examiners, his/her thesis shall be finally rejected.

C.1.(26)If a candidate is permitted to improve and
resubmit his/her thesis, he/she shall be required to submit it not earlier than
six months and not later than twelve months from the date of such permission
along with the prescribed fee.

The
thesis so resubmitted shall be sent to the same panel of examiners, who
evaluated the original one, for adjudicate. The Vice-Chancellor shall, in such
contingency, appoint another external examiner or examiners, as the case may be,
from the original panel suggested by the supervisor and approved by the Research
Board. The revised thesis shall be accepted if at least three examiners
recommend acceptance. Candidate shall not be allowed to resubmit his/her thesis
more than once.

C.1.(27) The
reports of the referees (including those of the viva-voce test) shall be placed
before the Vice-Chancellor for approval. After approval of the Vice-Chancellor,
the degree be awarded to the candidate at the next convocation of the Vidyapith.
Meanwhile if the candidate wants to have a copy of the certificate, the
provisional certificate may be issued on the submission of the application and
prescribed fee by the candidate.

C.1.(28) Notwithstanding anything contained in the above Bye-laws, if any work relating
to the edited texts or calendars of unpublished manuscripts, records or
documents, duly accompanied by an adequate introduction and critical
appreciation of an outstanding nature, is submitted to the Vidyapith and the
experts to whom it is referred for the opinion find it suitable for the purpose,
the same may be considered on its own merits for the award of the Ph.D. degree of
the Vidyapith provided the other requirements are satisfied.